The Technology Behind RealCloud

BLOG UPDATE: Real Networks is thrilled to announce RealPlayer Cloud is now RealTimes. Read all about the exciting new product features of RealTimes.

We are using more devices than ever to watch videos: PCs, smartphones, tablets, and even Smart TVs. Currently, there are no standard TV-oriented platforms or technologies that make it easy to watch PC/tablet/smartphone videos on a TV. It’s true; we live in a multi-device world and many of those devices can record videos. Unfortunately, that means our videos are trapped in a complex maze of video formats (mov, mkv, avi, mp4, 3gp, etc.), multiple operating systems (iOS, Android, Windows, and Mac), and arbitrary device limitations (for example, videos longer than 2 minutes can’t easily be sent from iPhones and Android smartphones can’t play mov files). If we want to watch our videos stored on one device on another it often requires connector cables (HDMI, mini-HDMI, VGA, proprietary, etc.).

That’s where RealCloud is different. It sets our videos free and gives us a single seamless way to access our videos on all our devices. This is accomplished in two ways: RealNetworks’ SurePlayTM technology and connecting devices via the cloud or a home Wi-Fi network. RealNetworks’ SurePlayTM technology auto-formats videos and stores multiple copies of the source file so that any uploaded video is quickly available to be watched regardless of device, screen size, bandwidth or available storage space. Second, it connects devices to each other via the cloud or via a home Wi-Fi network, so that they are visible to each other.

THE REALCLOUD SOLUTION

RealCloud makes moving and sharing videos across platforms and devices a seamless experience so that videos are quickly available for playback on any device (aka SurePlayTM). RealNetworks developed SurePlayTM, a revolutionary new technology that enables auto-formatting of videos to match the device type, size of the screen, available bandwidth, and storage space available on the device.

Typically iPads, iPhones, Rokus, and Android smartphones or tablets can only play a small set of video formats For example, if you move an mkv file to an iPad and expect it to just play, it won’t. Additionally, very high bitrate files (HD resolution) won’t play smoothly on these devices unless they are right-sized for the screen and network bandwidth. SurePlayTM takes care of these technical irregularities by creating and storing right-sized copies and formats of videos so that they are always available for instant playback on all devices at any given time.

How RealCloud Works

Once you upload a video from any device regardless of format, it is optimized, and multiple copies of different profiles are created and stored in secondary storage in the cloud. These copies do not affect the amount of storage space available in your RealCloud account. While multiple copies are automatically made, the source video file is always available for download. Additionally, uploaded files are immediately available for playback even while they are being transcoded.

During playback, HTTP Live Streaming (HLS) profiles or Progressive Download (PD) profiles are appropriately served depending on the device and connectivity being used to watch the video. If you want to download the file to a device for offline playback, the right PD profile is delivered. For example, if you uploaded a mkv file to RealCloud and want to download it to an iPad, the video downloaded to the iPad using the RealCloud app will be in the right format for playback on the iPad. RealNetworks’ SurePlayTM system exists both on the cloud and on the devices where RealCloud is installed. This allows guaranteed playback not only from cloud-to-device, but also from device-to-device.

If you opt into the premium tier you get additional streaming and PD profiles, as well as more cloud storage space. Your videos with a higher bitrate get a higher definition experience in high bandwidth, large screen environments. When you share videos using RealCloud with friends and family, they don’t need to install the app or register for an account in order to watch the video. Because of SurePlayTM, the video always plays at the receiver’s end. This enables a seamless share and play experience.

Connecting Multi-Device Experiences

There are several services available for device detection and app connectivity. Some of the popular ones are uPnP/DLNA and Apple’s Bonjour. RealCloud supports more platforms than Bonjour (such as Roku), and is easier to use than DLNA. Instead of purely relying on these services, SurePlayTM includes a cloud-resident service that ensures inter-device connectivity. Devices use the cloud as a common registration point for discovering one another.

The RealCloud app is currently available for Windows 7, Windows 8 (XP and Vista support is coming soon), iPhone and iPad, Android, Roku, and can be accessed on a Mac and other platforms via popular web browsers. Download the free app today and start moving, sharing, and watching videos on your favorite devices.

Let us know if you have any questions about RealCloud in the comments below.

I was up at my folks’ house this weekend and had brought a USB stick with some programs I thought they might like. Unfortunately, I forgot to bring my Popcorn Hour box. They had a Roku player and I found out it had RealPlayer Cloud, which I had never heard of. I did a quick sign up, bought some storage, and logged into my computer at home (400 miles away), then uploaded the programs to the cloud over remote desktop. Presto, they were almost instantly available on the Roku! No stuttering, perfect resolution. What a great solution!! I will be sharing videos with my parents using the RealPlayer cloud from now on!

By refkie Posted on October 23, 2013

I have installed realplayer cloud and since instructions and guidance are not clear, i do not want to use anymore, i have been trying to uninstall this software for the past 2 , 3 days, but all my attempt failed and now i have only option to format computer to remove this software.

By RealPlayer Team Posted on October 24, 2013

Thank you for your interest in RealPlayer cloud and sorry for any inconvenience.

If this doesn’t work, please send an email to help@real.com, include a brief description of the issue, copy and paste the link to this thread within the email for further assistance.

By Wil Posted on October 27, 2013

My videos played the first day I installed a month ago and now they do not play…constantly getting and update popup….i update and then i get an error message. Big waste of time…going back to icloud and dropbox. I see this will not be around for long.

By RealPlayer Team Posted on October 31, 2013

Sorry for the experience, please provide us some more information:

1. Does this happen with all the videos?
2. What is the format of the video?
3. What is the error message?

The more specific you are, the better we will be able to assist you.

By tri Posted on November 16, 2013

i try to play an rmvb from my nexus 7 realplay cloud, the file is on my pc
i got an video play back error unable to play content
it will play mp4 and mkv file but not the rmvb
i though real player suppose to play rmvb
can you help

– Date of purchase (if applicable)
– Make and model of your Android device
– OS version (also, let us know if it is the OS your device shipped with, or a modified OS)
– The amount of memory on your device
– The details of the problem you’re experiencing: what steps you took before the problem occurred, and what the experience was (any error messages received, etc.)

By Robert Crowe Posted on December 6, 2013

My Cloud is full. Can I free up space simply by deleting videos I’m no longer interest in? Thank you.

By Ron Posted on December 9, 2013

I paid money for this software. The “DownLoad” button disappeared. I have uninstalled and reinstalled. Still no download option.

By RealPlayer Team Posted on December 10, 2013

‘Download This Video’ has limited compatibility with Google Chrome 31 and IE 11. Our technical team is aware of this issue and currently working on a fix. This issue will be resolved as early as possible. When we have an update on the status of this issue, we will let you know.

In the meantime, you can use alternate browsers like Mozilla Firefox, Internet Explorer or RealPlayer Browser to download videos. Please make sure the RealPlayer Plug-in is enabled in your web browsers by following this link:

Note: While downloading videos if it shows ”Download Incomplete. Refresh the page and try again” redownload the same video again to download it properly (make sure you don’t click Clear List in RealDownloader).

By mark grupp Posted on December 10, 2013

Will the RealPlayer Cloud (RPC) work overseas? Hulu, etc are blocked when outside US. I would think RPC should not have issues.

Apart from this, we offer a variety of cloud storage plans to meet your needs and budget.

RealPlayer Cloud Silver: 25 GB – $4.99/month or $49/year

RealPlayer Cloud Gold: 100 GB – $9.99/month or $99/year

RealPlayer Cloud Pro: 300 GB – $29.99/month or $299/year

All paid plans include a subscription to RealPlayer Plus, which allows you to play a wider variety of video formats, burn your videos to DVD, and clean your music library.

Note: Only the 25 GB yearly plan is available for purchase through the iOS app store; if you would prefer a different plan, please sign up through the website.

If you have additional questions, please write back to us.

By RealPlayer Team Posted on December 25, 2013

RealPlayer Cloud is currently available for US and Canada only.

By gloria osborne Posted on January 6, 2014

When will Real Player support IE7 on Vista 64 bit? My grand-dau wants to download music from you tube and Real Player will not load because it says I need to upgrade my browser. I do not want to upgrade because IE8 and 9 will not support the Java applets and I play Yahoo card games all the time.

By RealPlayer Team Posted on January 7, 2014

RealPlayer Plug-in is not supported by Internet Explorer 64 bit. However you can use Internet Explorer 32-bit to download videos. In this case, you are getting browser upgrade message from YouTube not from RealPlayer. YouTube is not supported by both Internet Explorer 7 64-bit and 32-bit. If you are using RealPlayer 16, I would suggest you to download and install Mozilla Firefox to download videos.

Note: RealPlayer 16 is not compatible with the latest version of Google Chrome. This compatibility issue has been fixed in RealPlayer Cloud, which is available for users in US & Canada using Windows 7 or 8.

Ok i need help. I uploaded a video from my pc to the cloud and the video is about 53 minutes long. So i go on my reaplayer cloud app on my ipod touch 4g and in the menu where it shows your videos it says the length of tbe video is 53 minutes but when i play the video it only plays like 1 minute of the video! Why is this happening!? Please respond

By Mike D Posted on January 10, 2014

When will the Cloud product be available for Vista. I am excited to try it with Chromcast. Thanks,

By RealPlayer Team Posted on January 11, 2014

Sorry you can’t play a video uploaded to RealPlayer Cloud.

Please provide us some more information:

1. What is the format of the video? (FLV or MP4)
2. Does this happen for all videos?
3. Are you able to play the full video in PC software?

The more specific you are, the better I will be able to assist you.

By RealPlayer Team Posted on January 11, 2014

Thank you for your interest in RealPlayer Cloud!

At this time, we don’t have any information on this.

By Emmy Miller Posted on January 17, 2014

I have a galaxy s3. I use to use realplayer and itplayed my digital movies with no problem. Withe the clous it says unable to play content. This is for the movies tangeled, brave , the muppets and alvin and the chipmunks. Please help.
Emmy

By RealPlayer Team Posted on January 17, 2014

Sorry for the inconvenience caused!

We have replied to your query in your email request. Please respond we will go from there. If you have any additional questions, please send an email to help@real.com

By rafael gonzalez Posted on January 20, 2014

When I tried to download a video from youtube and click on the download botton I get the following message:

Unable to download
Navigation to the web page was cancelled.

By RealPlayer Team Posted on January 20, 2014

Sorry you can’t download videos!

A new English version of RealPlayer Cloud has just been released worldwide, which will resolve the Download This Video issues you’ve been experiencing. If you are on Windows 7 or higher, visit http://www.real.com today to download RealPlayer Cloud (note: if you have RealPlayer Plus 16, you will keep your Plus features when you upgrade–just sign in to activate them).

If you are on Windows XP or Vista, we will be releasing an updated version of RealPlayer 16 soon that contains fixes for these issues.

How do I stream videos from my PC (laptop) to my TV through the chromcast device? Realplayer recognizes the videos I have stored on my laptop and will play them on my laptop, but I can’t figure out how to stream them to my TV through my chromecast device. I can stream videos stored on my Andriod phone just fine, but I don’t see a “casting” option on my laptop. Get my drift?

By RealPlayer Team Posted on February 8, 2014

If you are using a PC or laptop, you’ll need to install the Chromecast extension through your Chrome web browser, and open cloud.real.com in Chrome when you want to cast videos. (Chromecast does not support native Windows applications, so it is not available in the desktop RealPlayer Cloud application. You can cast from our website on your PC, as well as from most smartphones and several tablets. If Google extends Chromecast to support Windows apps, we’ll definitely look into it!)

Next, make sure you are signed into the RealPlayer Cloud app on your device.

If you have the app or extension installed, and you are signed in, but you still can’t cast videos, power-cycle your Chromecast by following these steps:

1. Remove the Chromecast device from the HDMI slot.
2. Unplug the USB cable or power cable (depending on how the device is powered up).
3. Reconnect the Chromecast and try again.

Hi. I have used Real Player for a long time but I just downloaded the Real Player Cloud version so I can use Chromecast as well as share between devices. However, when I click the device sharing on my Android tablet app- it says no compatible devices found on network. However I am sitting directly in front of my computer where I am signed in to Real Player Cloud on my desktop as well as the cloud.real.com on-line option. Why is this happening and how can I correct it?

Just as an added piece of info- I uploaded a video onto the cloud and it appears on all three of these options…

By RealPlayer Team Posted on February 22, 2014

The sharing settings on your PC may be affecting the visibility of your videos on other devices. Please try the following steps to correct this:

3. At this point you may be prompted to share on a private or public network. The prompt is the sign that your PC is not enabled for sharing, which explains the inability for RealPlayer Cloud on devices to see your PC. You need to enable sharing on at least your private network. Once your sharing is enabled, you will be able to see devices on your private network.

Note: If the videos that don’t appear were originally downloaded from iTunes, please read this article.

I have videos under “All Videos” that does not give me the option to delete but I do not want them. Also,Videos under “downloads” were added from my PC when I installed the realplayer application but I can’t delete them either. They show a padlock on the bottom right of the video icon which I assume means they are locked. How can I unlock them so they can be deleted? Please help. Thanks

By RealPlayer Team Posted on March 10, 2014

I am sorry for the inconvenience caused. With regards to this issue, please send an email to help@real.com, include a brief description of the issue, copy and paste the link to this thread within the email for further assistance.

By Dave Posted on March 13, 2014

So when IS Real Player Cloud going to be released for Vista and XP?

I run Secunia PSI which is reporting that I have an out-of-date version of Real Player, but there isn’t a newer version available for Vista or XP so that’s no actually true.

Please release Real Player Cloud for XP and Vista ASAP so I don’;t have to put up with this annoying (and spurious) error report!

By RealPlayer Team Posted on March 14, 2014

I am sorry but we do not have a commitment if or when we will release a version of RealPlayer Cloud for Vista or XP. When we have an update on the status, we will update that in our official web site.

I have been a PAID Real Player user forever but I am pretty disappointed in Real Player Cloud. After installing/updating, the software is unable to play mov files. It gives the old error of “unvalid parameter error. The only guidance I have seen is to reinstall Real Player Cloud…..reminds me of old “reboot” or “contact your system adminstrator” advice from long ago. Of course I did reinstall the player (silly me) and it still does not play the mov files. I am upset because surely this had to be tested before the rollout of the cloud version. Maybe its a problem with healthcare.gov?

By Guy Kidd Posted on March 23, 2014

Still Disappointed in Real Player Cloud’s inability to play mov files. After trying the reinstall suggestion from RP’s support forum, I uploaded the mov file to RP’s Cloud and it played fine from there. Then I downloaded the mov file directly from RP’s Cloud to my desktop. Same error as before, “invalid parameter.” I am sure its a simply problem to rectify but I simply don’t have the time to troubleshoot myself. I hope this get’s fixed before I get completely frustrated with it. My first comment is “awaiting moderation” so I guess I am stuck monitoring both comments’ moderation.

By Guy Kidd Posted on March 23, 2014

Follow-Up to my 2 prior comments is that though mov files don’t play in Real Player Cloud they still play in Realviewer.

I installed replayer cloud on my ipad. I’m trying to cast mp4 movies installed on ipad with chromecast. My personal videos on the ipad play without issue. Next to the mp4 movies that appear in realplayer cloud have a lock next to them and I cannot cast them. How can I unlock these movies?

By RealPlayer Team Posted on April 5, 2014

Sorry for the inconvenience. If you see a “lock” icon on a video that you synced or downloaded from iTunes, this means that the video cannot be uploaded or shared using RealPlayer Cloud, although you can still play it on your device.

If you have any additional questions, please let us know.

By Sarah Posted on April 16, 2014

I’m just starting to play with RP Cloud, and so far I love how I can stream videos from my PC to my iPad (so I can watch somewhere other than my computer chair). However, whenever I send a video to the cloud or even download fully to my iPad, it says video not available on the iPad! This hasn’t been a problem yet, but will be if I ever want to use this thing without A, being in the house and B, having my computer on! What gives?

By RealPlayer Team Posted on April 16, 2014

Sorry for the inconvenience. Please send an email to help@real.com, include a brief description of the issue to assist you.

By bd Posted on June 10, 2014

what is wrong with realplayer? once i downloaded the latest realcloud, it is getting worse!!! my whole computer system is lagging!!! please do something! i think the old one is waaaaay better than the new one.

Solution 2: Free up hard drive space by emptying the contents of the TEMP folder.

Windows uses temporary folders to process information and compress files. Empty them to keep too many unneeded files from using space on the hard drive.

The Windows TEMP folder is used by programs to store the temporary files they use. If files have accumulated in the folder, this may contribute to the “Low System Resources” error. See Deleting temporary Windows files and folders for full instructions. Once these steps are complete, close any open windows and restart the computer. Try using RealPlayer again.

Hope it helps!. If the issue still persists, please send an email to help@real.com

By Richard Stacey Posted on June 28, 2014

How does one uninstall realplayer cloud? It does not appear in my list of programs. It is not a service i want i want it off my laptop.

By Brinton Felixraja Posted on June 30, 2014

Sorry for the trouble.

It seems that RealPlayer Cloud is not properly installed and this is the reason why it didn’t appear in the installed program list. To uninstall, over-reinstall RealPlayer Cloud and then do a clean uninstall.

Hope this work! If you have any additional questions, please send an email to help@real.com

By Debbie Barnett Posted on August 17, 2014

I have. Avi files on my android tablet. When I try to play in Real Player cloud it says video playback error unable to play content.can you give me a simple explanation as to how to fix this. Thank you so much

By Brinton Felixraja Posted on August 18, 2014

The RealPlayer application supports whatever media formats your Android tablet supports, and these may vary from tablet to tablet.

The current version of Android does not allow you to add codecs beyond the core Android formats. Accordingly, RealPlayer (as well as all other players) can only support formats that are pre-installed on the tablet.

Please consult the manual that came with your tablet for more information.

You can upload the videos to Cloud and try again. Uploaded videos are transcoded into multiple SurePlay profiles so that videos can instantly play on any device.

By john kelly Posted on August 25, 2014

Is realplayer cloud available for windows phone 8.1?
It works well on my android device, but would like to
access uploads from my Nokia as well.

By RealPlayer Team Posted on August 25, 2014

At this time, RealPlayer Cloud App is not available for Windows phones.

We are in the process of expanding the compatibility to all available devices. I apologize for the inconvenience.

I will take it as a feedback and forwarded to the department. Your insights and opinions will help us in our ongoing efforts to enhance our products and services.

In the meantime, you can access the RealPlayer Cloud website, http://cloud.real.com. You can download, play and share the cloud videos which is uploaded through Player Cloud desktop version.

If you have any additional questions, please send an email to help@real.com

By ron Posted on August 29, 2014

how can I burn a youtube downloaded music with a padlock in the corner of it

and can I remove the lock?
thanks ron

By RealPlayer Team Posted on August 29, 2014

If you see a “lock” icon on a video that you synced or downloaded from iTunes, this means that the video cannot be uploaded or shared using RealPlayer Cloud–although you can still play it on your device.

If you have any additional questions, please send an email to help@real.com.

By Briana Posted on September 11, 2014

Just started using realplayer cloud. Downloaded it for my mac. I’m trying to upload an .rm video, but it always fails. It keeps saying it is uploaded to sureplay but I can’t find the video. I have the most up to date real player for mac. What am I doing wrong?

By Brinton Felixraja Posted on September 12, 2014

First, make sure that the file plays in RealPlayer Cloud. If it plays, sign out of RealPlayer Cloud and sign back in.

To do so:
1. Sign out of RealPlayer Cloud on your PC.
2. Sign out of RealPlayer Cloud on your mobile device.
3. Sign out of RealPlayer Cloud on Roku and all other devices in your network.
4. Click https://cloud.real.com and sign in with your credentials.
5. Go to Account Settings > Account.
6. Under Devices select Logout all devices.
7. Restart the applications on your PC and mobile device.

Note: You need to redownload if the file does not play in RealPlayer Cloud.